1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to network management and, more particularly, to enabling network devices to report business impact information to a network management system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Network services have changed dramatically in recent years, particularly with the migration of sensitive data from the confines of company Intranets to provider networks that carry data for multiple customers over a single network core. For example, voice, video, and other business data, is now commonly sent over virtual private networks (VPNs) established over service provider core networks. Such VPNs provide security and separation by preventing the communication of data between sites that are not part of the same VPN.
As business entities come to rely more and more on service provider core networks, Service Level Agreements play an increasingly important role in their relationship with service providers. SLAs typically contain provisions that specify a guaranteed level of service and penalty provisions for not meeting the specified level of service. In order to measure level of service, tools have been developed that provide information about network traffic that allows network performance to be monitored and also provides insight into the network that aids providers in providing reliable service.
One such tool, commonly referred to as a network probe, actively generates and monitors network traffic to gather information indicative of network performance. Network probes may be implemented on existing network devices, such as routers and switches, or in dedicated devices, such as a dedicated router to offload the required processing. In either case, by actively generating traffic that specifically targets devices in a given network path, network probes may enable the detection of network deficiencies that might not be found using non-intrusive techniques.
Results of probe operations may be kept internally by the device in which the probe is implemented and accessed, for example, via the device command line interface. Results may also be exposed to network management applications, for example, via the simple network management protocol (SNMP). Network probes may be configured to send a notification (commonly referred to as a trap) to a network management system (or fault manager) upon detection of a significant event, such as a loss in connectivity or the reduction in service level below a specified threshold amount. A trap may alert an operator or an administrator the traffic data transport has degraded or failed, indicating a network problem, such as malfunctioning or failing equipment and congestion.
On the network management side, upon receiving an alarm notification (via a trap sent by a probe), an impact analysis may be performed in an attempt to determine the business impact of the reported failure (e.g., what customers are effected and how). Unfortunately, there is typically only a limited amount of information provided in conventional network alarms, such as an identification of the device implementing the probe and a monitored destination targeted by a corresponding probe operation.
As a result, it may be extremely difficult to make an accurate determination as to which service or services are impacted by the reported failure based on this limited information. Therefore, the information gained by conventional impact analysis will typically be, at best, a statement of potential impact which may be inaccurate due to various factors, such as route path re-convergence and the existence of multiple paths. Further, determining the business entities affected, such as particular customer VPNs, based on traditional fault analysis is a potentially expensive processing activity which may need to be repeated each time a fault is detected.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved technique for determining the business impact of a detected network failure.